1. Field
The present disclosure relates to a method and system for entering text on a touch screen. More specifically, embodiments in the present disclosure relate to a method and system of receiving text entries on a touch screen from a user in a vehicle while the user is driving the vehicle.
2. Description of the Related Art
Entering text in a touch screen text field while driving can be cumbersome. This type of gesture requires many repeated glances at a keyboard on the touch screen in order to find a correct key corresponding to a target character to be entered and to make sure the target key is tapped correctly. It takes a long time to scroll long lists of items on the touch screen while driving because it is not easy to confirm contents in the list because of limited time for viewing the list as well as instability in scrolling actions in a vehicle in motion with vibration. Even when a method is provided to scroll quickly to items with a particular first letter, if there are many items with the same first letter, the entry of text still takes a long time and many glances due to driving in order to scroll through the items and to find the desired item. This problem may be alleviated if a keyboard on the screen is fully enlarged. However, when the touch screen keyboard takes up an entire screen, it is impossible to display an updated list of items that matches the entered text while text is being entered.
For smooth and speedy character input for portable devices, several methods have been proposed. For example, patent literature US 2010/0251176 A1 suggests a touch display and a virtual keyboard visually presented by the touch display where the virtual keyboard includes one or more slider buttons and each slider button includes a plurality of touch-selectable items. However, merely showing a whole set of character keys in the virtual keyboard does not solve the above problem that the touch screen keyboard tends to takes up a considerable space in the touch screen because it is still necessary for a user who is also a driver to gaze the screen for a character of potential entry which is relatively small space in the screen in order to confirm the content for entry. Thus, there is a need for more accurate text input method for the driver while a vehicle is in action and the driver has limited time to focus on the screen.
Accordingly, there is a need to provide a better method and system of inputting text on a touch screen without closely looking. A better method of entering text is desired which enables moving through long lists of items on a touch screen quickly including a touch screen search method that allows text entry while displaying a list of matching items that change as text is entered.